Professor Alex Stevens
Senior Researcher
Alex Stevens is Professor in Criminal Justice at the University of Kent, where he teaches on drug policy, drug-related crime and comparative criminology. He holds a PhD in Social Policy. He published an article in the Journal of Social Policy in 2011, called ‘Telling Policy Stories’, based on six months of participant observation of drug and crime policy making in the British civil service. He has worked on issues of illicit drugs and specifically drug treatment in the criminal justice system since 1991. He led the QCT Europe study, a six country research project on quasi-compulsory treatment for drug dependent offenders. His other publications include two articles (written with Caitlin Hughes) on drug decriminalisation in Portugal, a book on Drugs, Crime and Public Health (Routledge, 2011) and an edited volume called Crossing Frontiers: International Developments in the Treatment of Drug Dependence (Pavilion Publishing, 2008), as well as many policy reports and articles on issues of drugs, crime and human rights. He is a board member of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy.
Drug trends and policy responses: Explaining the drug policy ratchet